Day 26

July 12 (Del Norte Coast Redwood State Park, CA)

I woke up at about 6am, and since no one was awake (even Cassandra as I gathered my things in the tent), I rode solo to the beach to check out the low tide. It was very misty and gently drizzly. In this mist, the beach felt eerie and creepy. The waves were crashing against the rocks at the mouth of the cove and the water was almost completely gone within the cove. 

I walked the length of the exposed beach to the water's edge, but my nerves kept me from wanting to even touch the water. I spent some time just looking out into the water when I noticed two fishermen on the other side of the rocks with lines in the water. It was a brave location to fish (and likely an incredible place to be) - I felt nervous for them! I slowly made my way back down the beach glad I made it down there that morning.

 

Upon my return and after breakfasting, we headed out to explore the rest of this area before leaving. We drove into Cape Arago State Park (adjacent to Sunset Bay State Park) to check out the views of the Pacific further south in the park and a botanical garden. Everyone was pretty sluggish (the weather certainly didn't help) so we took it easy and let the kids direct us. Negotiating the fog and mist is neat - it comes and goes and you just have to be ready for whatever. We saw a group of college or graduate students doing observation and research at the Simpson Reef Overlook, presumably on the sea lions that gather there.

 

Returning to our campground, we quickly broke down camp with Toby hanging out (while the children hung out in the Interpretive Center), then made our way south along Rt 101 toward the California and the redwoods. The drive along Rt 101 was amazingly stunning, with huge views of the Pacific and massive boulders along the coast. It is like no coastline I've ever, and since the drive is elevated from the shoreline, the views were expansive. I felt like I was in a different country in a different world - and both Ev and Til were in awe of what they saw out their windows. It was a great drive, and even though it was really tough leaving Sunset Bay, we arrived in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park so excited. It was stunning entering the land of the redwoods. They are so big and impressive, and there are so many of them - old and established along with the new. We saw so many fairy circles and circles within circles of old growth, generational redwood families.

 

Our campsite was in a glorious huge spot with a large stump of an old-growth redwood for the kids to climb all over and huge mature trees all around us. We immediately made friends with a boy named Jack and his father, with his two siblings who were Evelyn and Tilda's ages! It was perfect; they had companions for the rest of our time there. It felt great to be here, but we now wished we booked more nights here! Cassandra did some research and learned that we can try to get walkup spots at 9am the next morning - we are getting used to that flow these days…

 

There is great calm and peace in this place, so I hope we can get at least one more night here. Tomorrow will tell…